Flume-gate.



J. Er-SO'HNEIDER.

' FLUME GATE. APPLICATION IILED NOV. 12, 1912.

Patented May 20, 191 3.

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- 1,062,364. Patented May 20, 1913.

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UNTTED STATE$ PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN E. SCHNEIDER, OF CORTEZ, COLORADO.

FLUME-GATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 20, 1913.

Application filedNovember 12, 1912. Serial No. 731,003.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN E. SCHNEIDER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Oortez, in the county of Montezuma and State of Colorado,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flume- Gates, ofwhich the following is a specificainvention resides in the provision ofa swinging flume gate mounted in one of the walls of the flume to extendtransversely thereacross and entirely cut ofl the flow of water to theditch, and means connected to said gate and actuated by the increase ofpressure of the water in the flume to a predetermined point to swing thegate to its open and closed positions.

A still further object of the invention is to produce an automatic flumegate which is comparatively simple in its construction, durable andefiicient in practical operation and may be produced at very small cost.

With the above and other objects in View as will become apparent as thedescription proceeds, the invention consists in certain constructions,combinations and arrangements of the parts that I shall hereinafterfully describe and claim.

For a full understanding of the invention, reference is to be had to thefollowing descriptioh and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is aperspective view of an auto-.

matic flume gate constructed in accordance with the present invention,the gate being closed; Fig. 2 is a top plan view showing the gate in apartly opened position; Fig. 3 is a side elevation, the gate havingmoved to its fully opened position; Fig. 4: is a similar view showingthe relative positions of the parts in the closing movement of the gate;and Fig. 5 is a detail perspective-view illustrating the pressureregulating means for the actuating shaft.

Referring in detail to the drawings, 5 designates a flume which isemployed for irrigation or other purposes, the same con sisting of theusual side walls connected at,

their lower edges by the bottom wall. In one of the side walls of theflume, the transversely swinging gate 6 is hingedly mounted. To theflume wall, a vertical plate 7 is secured, said plate at one of itsedges constituting an abutment or stop for the free end of'the gate 6 tolimit its outward swingmg movement to its closed position.

The side walls of the flume 5 at its entrance end are of increasedheight and upon the same suitable bearings indicated at 8 are mounted toreceive the ends of a shaft 9 To this shaft and extending upon Oppositesides thereof the arms 10 are fixed. The pressure sustaining blades 11are secured to the arms ;10 and through the medium of the same, theshaft 9 is adapted to be rotated when the pressure of water in the heador entrance of the fiume 5 increases beyond a predetermined point. Toone end of the shaft 9 which projects beyond the side walls of theflume, a crank arm 12 is fixed, said arm being disposed in a different,

radial plane from the shaft 9 with respect to the blades 11.

Upon the plate 7, which is secured to the flume 5, the spaced bearings13 are arranged and in the same the perpendicular rock shaft 14 ismounted. To the upper end of this shaft an arm 15 is secured. The outerend of this arm is connected by means of the bar 16 to the crank arm 12,said crank being provided upon its end with the lug 17 upon which theend of the bar 16 is engaged. The under side of the bar 16 is providedwith spaced notches 18 in which the lug 17 is adapted to ,engage in themanner and for the purpose-which will be hereinafter specificallyreferred to.

To the rock shaft 14: one end of a longi tudinally curved presser arm 19is fixed. The convex edge" of this arm is opposed to the swinging gate 6and is adapted to bear against the free end thereof when the shaft 14 isrocked to move said gate to a partly opened position, from whichposition its movement is continued by the pressure of the waterthereagainst to a fully opened position wherein the free end of the gatewill end-by means of the chain 20 to the gate 6' and also returns thegate to its closed position when the rocking movement of the shaft 14 isreversed in the manner to be later described.

In order to regulate the pressure of the water which is necessary tomove the blades 11 and thereby rotate the shaft 9, I provide an eye 21which is secured in any suitable manner to a cross bar 22 connecting theside walls of the flume. One end of a chain 23 is attached to the outeredge of one of the blades 11 and to the other end of this chain alongitudinally split pin 24 is connected. The split portions 25 of thispin which ex tend in divergent relation are adapted to be insertedthrough the eye 21 and upon the convex surfaces of these split portionsof the pin, the protuberances 26 are formed. The resiliency of the metalnormally holds the split portions of the pin in spaced relation andcauses the same to frictionally en-' gage the inner side of the eye 21at opposite points. The pull upon the pin 24 necessary to spring thesplit portions thereof inwardly so that they may be passed through theeye 21 will, of course, be greatest when the inner ends of said splitportions are engaged with the eye, and a comparatively slight pull wouldeffect the release of the pin 24 when the split portions thereof areengaged with the eye at their outer ends. The protuberances 26 upon thesplit portions 25 of the pin prevent accidental or unintentionaldisengagement of said pin from the eye and hold said pin in positionuntil the water has risen in the fiume to exert the necessary pressureupon the gate blade whereby the release of the pin is effected. It is ofcourse understood that when the water in the flume lowers to its normaldepth, the retaining device above described is reset to hold the rotarygate against movement and retain the swing ing gate in its closedposition.

In the operation of the device, assuming that the gate 6 is closed andthe blades 11 are in the position shown in Fig. 1, upon the increase ofwater pressure beyond a predetermined point, the same will act againstthe lower blade 11 to rotate the shaft 9, and through the medium of thecrank arm 12 and the connecting bar 16 and arm 15, oscillate the rockshaft 14. In this movement of the shaft 14, the arm 19 presses againstthe gate 6 and forces the same inwardly to the position shown in Fig. 2,the blades 11 being now disposed above and below the shaft 9,respectively. After reaching this position, the pressure of the wateracting against the partly opened gate 6 continues the movement of saidgate until the same is fully opened and disposed transversely across theflume as shown in Fig. 3. In this position of the parts, it will beobserved that the crank 12 on the end of the shaft 9 has moved to apoint slightly above a horizontal plane and the pressure of the wateragainst the lowermost blade 11 continues the rotation of the shaft so asto swing the arm 12 upwardly and move the lug 17 thereof out ofengagement with the innermost notch 18 and into the end notch providedin the under side of the bar 16. The blade 11 which is disposed abovethe shaft 9 at the start of the movement of the opening of the gate isnow disposed below said shaft and in the water in the head of the flume.The water pressure acting against this blade continues the rotation ofthe shaft 9, and the arm 12 reverses the movement of the connecting bar16 and thereby also reverses the oscillation of the shaft 14, and thusreturns the gate 6 to its closed position. This operation continues, thegate being alternately opened and closed as long as there issuflicientpressure of water to act against the blades 11 and rot-ate the shaft 9.In Fig. 4, I have illustrated this last referred to position of the arm12 with relation to the bar 16, in which position of the parts, the gatehas not yet moved to its fully closed position, it will be noted thatthe bar 16 extends upwardly from the arm 15 to the arm 12 and there issufficient pull upon the bar 16 in the continued rotation of the shaft 9to tightly close the gate. When the arm 12 again moves downwardly belowa horizontal plane, there is practically no longitudinal movement of thebar 16, the lug 17 on the end of the arm 12 sliding upon the bar 16 sothat the lug will be again engaged in the forward notch 18 in the underside of said connecting bar. In this manner, it will be seen that whenthe flume is flooded by the heavy rains or other causes, the excesswater therein will be diverted from its course so as to prevent floodingof the adjacent territory. The opening and closing movements of the gateare entirely automatic, and after all the parts have once been properlyadjusted, the device requires no further attention, as the power for theoperation of the device is furnished by the water itself, it will beapparent that after the installation of the invention, no furtherexpense will be incurred in the operation thereof.

From the foregoing, it is thought that the construction and operation ofmy improved fiume gate will be clearly understood.

It will be obvious that the device consists of but comparatively fewparts which are of simple form, and that the same is highly durable andeflicient in practical use.

l/Vhile I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of theinvention, it will be understood that the same is only illustrative andthat the device is susceptible of considerable modification in the form,arrangement and proportion of the several elements as may suggestthemselves in the adaptation of the invention for certain specificpurposes without departing from the essential features or sacrificingany of the advantages involved therein.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. An automatic fiume gate comprising the gate proper mounted in one ofthe side walls of the fiume for transverse swinging movement, a rockerarnrmounted upon the fiume to move said gate, and operating means forsaid arm actuated by the increase of pressure beyond a predeterminedpoint to automatically move the gate to its opened and closed positions.

2. An automatic fiume gate comprising the gate proper mounted in one ofthe side walls of the fiume for transverse swinging movement, a rockshaft, an arm fixed upon said rock shaft to bear against the free end ofthe gate, a flexible connection between said gate and the arm, and meansmounted upon the fiume and connected to the rock shaft and actuated bythe increase of water pressure in the fiume beyond a predetermined pointto rock the shaft and alternately open and close the gate.

3. An automatic fiume gate comprising the gate proper mounted in one ofthe side walls of the fiume for transverse swinging movement, a rockerarm mounted upon the fiume wall at the free end of the gate and adaptedto bear against said gate and force the same inwardly, and operatingmeans for said arm mounted upon the fiume and actuated by the increaseof water pressure in the fiume beyond a predetermined point.

4. An automatic fiume gate comprising the gate proper mounted in one ofthe side walls of the fiume for transverse swinging movement, aperpendicular rock shaft mounted upon the fiume, an arm fixed upon saidshaft to bear against the gate and force the same inwardly, a flexibleconnection between said arm and the gate, a transverse shaft journaledupon the side walls of the fiume, blades fixed to said shaft and extending into the fiume, said shaft being rotated by the water pressureagainst said blades, and means connecting said shaft to the rock shaftto actuate the latter and alternately move the gate to its opened andclosed positions.

5. An automatic fiume gate comprising the gate proper mounted in one ofthe side walls of the fiume for transverse swinging movement, aperpendicular rock shaft mounted upon the fiume wall at the free end ofthe gate, a longitudinally curved arm fixed to said shaft to bearagainst the gate and force the same inwardly into the path of the water,a transverse shaft mounted upon the fiume, blades fixed to said shaftand extending into the fiume to receive the impact of the water androtate said shaft, an arm fixed to one end of said shaft, an arm fixedto the rock shaft, a bar pivotally connected to one end oft-he latterarm, and 'coengaging means on the arm of said transverse shaft and saidbar to reverse the movement of the rock shaft and alternately open andclose said gate.

6. An automatic fiume gate comprising the gate proper mounted in one ofthe fiume walls for transverse swinging movement, means to bear againstthe free end of the gate and force the same inwardly into the path ofthe water, a flexible connection between said means and the gate,actuating means for said gate-moving means adapted to be actuated by theincrease of pressure in the fiume beyond a predetermined point, andmeans for varying the water pressure necessary to operate saidgate-actuating means.

7. An automatic fiume gate comprising the gate proper mounted in one ofthe fiume walls for transverse swinging movement, means mounted upon thefiume wall and bearing against said gate at its free end to force thesame inwardly into the path of the water, said gate being moved to itsfully opened position by the pressure of water thereagainst, atransverse shaft mounted upon the fiume, blades carried by said shaftacted upon by the increase of water pressure in the flume, connectingmeans between said shaft and the gate-operating means, a stationaryelement, and means having adjustable engagement with said stationaryelement and connected to one of said blades whereby the water pressurenecessary to rotate said shaft may be regulated.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

JOHN E. SCHNEIDER.

WVitnesses H. W. BERGER, C. H. RUDY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patcnts,

Washington, D. C.

